


See You Later, Alligator

by serenadinsirens



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Kind of angsty, Positive ending, Swearing, good bye ray
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 11:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3726625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenadinsirens/pseuds/serenadinsirens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray's leaving Rooster Teeth for the last time as an employee when someone comes up behind him.</p><p>"Are you going to be happy?”</p><p>And, well, there was an easy answer to that question sure, but the way to go about it threw him through a loop. What’s the best way to tell the person who worked his ass off to get you to where you were that you’re much, much happier somewhere else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	See You Later, Alligator

**Author's Note:**

> This is my way of wishing Ray good luck with the rest of his career, and also a way of promising to not let raychael die ever. You can interpret this as platonic or not, doesn't matter.

 

"Are you going to be happy?"

 

Ray pauses with the box still in his hand, leaning over the trunk of Tina’s car, not setting it down yet at the sound of Michael Jones’ voice. He feels the breath leave his lungs and stands up straighter, turning around to look his friend in the eyes.

He had his hands in his pockets, eyebrow raised, and- it hurt a lot to see it, Ray wishes there was a way he could change it, do both, but there wasn’t and this was his option- a look of concern. The wind sifts through his hair and Ray thinks it was the Earth’s way to try and part the silence.

“What’d you say?” Ray asks, even though he heard him loud and clear, and sets the box filled with fanart, pictures, memories of the past three years of his life into the trunk of the car.

“This- this streaming thing. Will you be happy doing it?” 

And there was an easy answer to that question- yes of  _course_ he was, this was what he  _loved_ and he  _knew_ it- but a more difficult way to go about answering it. What’s the best way to tell the person who worked his ass off to get you to where you were that you’re much,  _much_ happier somewhere else?

And it’s not like Achievement Hunter made him unhappy at all, he certainly wouldn’t go that far; the past three years of his life were literally the most incredible experience that, honestly, he couldn’t even believe that he even got to live that, but eventually, what it boiled down to, was that he needed to be somewhere else.

Ray wasn’t  _unhappy_ with Rooster Teeth, but it was a loop he'd been stuck in that he’s ready to break free from.

“Yeah,” Ray says and forces himself to watch the way that Michael’s expression changes, “yeah, I’m going to be really,  _really_  happy.” And the silence is uncomfortable, but something close to relief floods Michael’s face and makes him stand up straighter, as he reaches into his pocket and pulls something out.

“You forgot this, by the way,” he says, and stuffs an object into Ray’s hand. Ray opens his palm to find a plastic cube, painted to look like a block of dirt from Minecraft.

Right, Ray thinks, can’t leave anything that resembles Minecraft behind.

But he smiles. Maybe a little sadly, but more reflective than anything; nostalgic, remembering the times he’d spent passing a plastic, gold tower back and forth with the rest of his coworkers. It was a little disappointing to know that someone would soon usurp him in tower wins (his money was on Ryan, of all of them), but he hadn’t been winning much lately, anyhow.

Ray pockets the object and reprimands himself for mourning Minecraft let’s plays.

“Thanks,” he says awkwardly, and leans against the back of Tina’s car. They stand together again in a few brief moments of silence, Michael rubbing the back of his neck as Ray’s eyes slowly train himself to the black asphalt of Stage Five.

“I’m not gonna let you just hide away this time, you know,” Ray looks up as Michael talks again, a smile hanging on the red head’s face and flashing the dimple that Ray had since fallen in love with, “maybe you could have gotten away with it while you worked right next to me everyday, but now that you’re leaving... nuh-uh. I’m  _so_ dragging you out somewhere.”

Ray smiles at the fondness in his voice, “what, like those bro-dates we had back in the day?” Back when he’d lived in New York and Michael lived in New Jersey and they lived an hour apart, but they still talked to each other everyday over XBox Live. That was going to be a bit different now, he realizes, and conversations certainly wouldn’t be everyday.

“Fuck yeah, dude, I’ll drag you to Dave & Busters, or somethin’,” Michael replies with enthusiasm and it makes Ray chuckle.

“Dave & Buster’s sounds cool, so long as we can actually get Mario Kart to work this time,” Ray responds, in reference to when they’d spend a half hour just trying to get the match set up and taking away from the ten year olds who just really wanted to play.

“Probably not, let’s be realistic.”

“Maybe we can head to a Ruby Tuesday’s, for old time’s sake?” 

“Yeah, and see that rat again!”

“I don’t think we’re gonna see that same rat,” Ray replies.

“You don’t know that!”

“Michael, that was in fuckin’ New York, I doubt the rat could make the trip from there all the way to Austin.”

“I’m sure the rat is crying itself to sleep in the Austin streets because you have such little faith in him, Ray,” Michael chides, even though its playful, and Ray laughs to himself.

“My apologies to the rat, then.”

And, for the third time, no one talks; not Michael, not Ray, not Tina, no doubt sitting in the front seat of the car. Not a single word is spoken, and Ray holds his breath. There was no need to say anything, though, the thoughts hung open in the air, and neither of them, as it turned out, knew 100% how to say ‘good bye’.

They weren’t an easy two words to say.

“I’m gonna  _really_ fuckin’ miss you, dude,” Michael says, and for the first time, in a long time, Ray feels a pull in his chest towards that company that he had devoted so much of his time and energy to. A pull that had left a while ago, that he’d noticed the absence and spent the next few months wondering where the next step would be.

Michael tells him he’s going to miss him, and Ray considers abandoning the step forward and instead taking a few steps back.

“I’m still gonna live in the apartment above you, bro,” he tries weakly and it doesn’t work, it’s not a relief, and he fights the urge to repeat the same words back at Michael. “I’m not leaving Austin. I’m still gonna be here.”

“It’s not gonna be the same without you.” And he was right, he threw the dart and broke the bullseye, it was so on point, and Ray doesn’t know how to really deal with that. Change was something he’d prepared for, certainly, over the months he’d spent mulling over whether to leave or stay, but there was no consolation to give to his friend who hadn’t had that chance.

“Michael,” Ray starts, biting off his words as he runs a hand through his hair, “ _Jesus_ , come  _here_ -” he outstretches his arm for an embrace, not knowing any other way to tell him that it was going to be okay, other than to hug him.

Ray makes the first move, but Michael’s the one who follows through, grabbing Ray by the arm and pulling him into a bone crushing embrace, arms wrapping around his sides, one hand going to the small of his back, the other shoving his head into his shoulder, with his fingers wound in his hair. 

And Ray hugs him back. He grabs Michael around the waist and under his arms, pulling him closer and closing his eyes as Michael holds him tighter, like this was the only way that he could get him to stay. Ray wasn’t going to stay, he knows that, but it’s the easiest way to let Michael know that he necessarily wasn’t leaving.

“I’m gonna fucking miss you too,” Ray doesn’t mean to say it, but maybe the way that he can feel Michael’s heart racing in his chest from the way that their bodies are pressed so close together is what pulls the words from his mouth. 

Shit, Ray was scared they were true.

“You’re always welcome to drop by back here for another let’s play, if you want,” Michael says with his face buried into Ray’s shoulder, and Ray’s hands pull at the back of his shirt shakily. “We’ll always have a spot reserved for you the next time we play Monopoly.”

“I will  _actually_ move back to Puerto Rico,” Ray warns, and the humor is comforting, as Michael lets up on his hug and instead goes for something less spine snapping.

“You never lived in Puerto Rico.”

“Don’t ruin the illusion, you’re supposed to have my back, bro,” Ray teases, and inhales the scent of pine lingering on Michael’s fake ah crew t shirt. He pauses, and lets the red head’s slowing heart beat match his, letting this feeling embed itself into his memory. “You guys better still have a job opening when this all falls apart. I promise I’ll submit a formal application this time-”

“It’s not going to fall apart.” Ray’s eyes snap open at his words, and Michael pulls away to look at him face to face. They’d always been similar in height, but he notices, this time, that Michael has about a millimeter on him. “It’s not going to fall apart,” he repeats, “there’s no way. You’re gonna surpass AH in fans in no time.”

And there was something about the way that Michael spoke that had Ray realizing how little he was joking. There wasn’t an inch of sarcasm in his words, and something warm filled Ray’s stomach when he realizes that Michael had so much unconditional faith in him, that he  _actually_ thought that this was going somewhere.

Ray believes him.

Ray was really,  _really_ going to miss him.

“I better get going,” Ray says, taking the steps backward towards the car- but metaphorical footsteps forward in a new direction he’s ready to explore, “Tina’s been waiting for, like, twenty minutes.” He doesn’t want to leave Michael, he realizes; he wants to go, but he doesn’t want to experience to feeling of leaving.

“Fuckin’ finally,” Michael laughs, but it’s the one he uses to disguise actual negative emotions, Ray knew that by now and wants to scream at him that he’s sorry, “been tryin’ to get rid of you for the past three years. Get your ass out of here.”

“I’ll text you when I get home,” Ray promises, not knowing what else to tell him as Michael takes a few steps back and gives a dismissive wave of his hand and shrug of his shoulder. He closes the trunk to the van.

Ray takes the few steps closer to the car, feeling the space between Michael’s gaze and his back lengthen as he opens the passenger door to the car and takes a seat next to Tina, who had been checking her make up in the mirror. Michael had moved slightly backward but hadn’t one hundred percent left yet.

“Everything good?” she asks, looking him in the eyes, and Ray wonders what the correct way to respond to that one is. He doesn’t even know the answer himself.

“Well. As good as it’s gonna be right now,” he says, and pulls the seatbelt next to his head, fumbling to buckle himself in to the chair. He was being honest, though, and Tina knew it, and he knew it, and he knew that whatever this was is gonna change soon.

“Hey,” she says, and Ray looks up to meet her eyes, “we’re gonna be okay.”

“I know,” he says, and he means it.

A loud tap to the window pulls Ray’s attention back to behind him.

He turns to see Michael Jones himself, with wide, wild eyes and a stupid grin on his face, desperately pointing his finger downwards towards the pavement. Oh, right, roll down the window. Ray follows through, and Michael practically leaps into the car through the window, he leans so far in.

“Every stream,” he proclaims, like it’s supposed mean something.

“What?”

“I’ll be at every stream,” Michael promises, and somehow the wild smile on his face seems to make sense, because he had so be  _insane_ in some sort of way, “maybe not the whole time- okay, definitely not the whole time every time, but I’ll leave a comment in all of them. I’ll be there. I  _promise_.”

“I- uh- that’s a, uh, awfully unrealistic promise to make,” Ray stumbles over his words, taken aback by Michael’s proclamation and the shear amount of fierce energy that went behind it, “I’m sure you’ll be too busy to see every single one of them.”

“Even if it’s just for a second, I’ll be there,” Michael says like he’s in a kid’s TV show and friendship will over take all evil in the end, with the way his eyes gleamed and fire burned behind caramel color. “You can bet on that one.”

“Michael, your anime is showing,” he teases, but he can’t stop the smile that plays on his face at the ridiculousness and complete seriousness behind Michael’s words, “you better be there then, dude. I’ll be heart broken if I don’t see your name in the chat once. I’ll know what a filthy liar you are.”

“Fuck you,” Michael says and backs away from the car with that same cocky grin on his face. Ray feels something affectionate rise up in his throat, something that came along with four years of friendship, four years of talking to each other every day, the time they’d spent together and the times yet to come.

“I’ll see you later, Ray,” he speaks solemnly, the smile on his face turning almost sad. Ray couldn’t stop the words from falling out of his mouth in return.

“Good bye, Michael,” he replies, and it feels so effortless, like every other farewell he’d given in the past, knowing how none of them had been permanent, and that ‘see you later’ implied a  _later_ , another time together in the future. Michael steps backward and waves as Tina puts the car into reverse and backs out of the drive.

Ray watches him the entire way, eyes trained even as they leave the parking lot until Michael disappears from his vision.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Tina repeats from the drivers seat, and Ray never stops believing her, watching Stage Five and Rooster Teeth and Geoff, Jack, Ryan, Gavin, and Michael disappear behind the trees that line the street, the last time as an employee of theirs. And Ray believes her, he really does.

“Yeah,” Ray says. He turns his head to the Austin street in front of him. He places his checkered vans to the dashboard of the car.

And he says good bye.


End file.
